Planet Fitness reported on September 15 that about 3.7 million teens aged 14 to 19 used its High School Summer Pass between June 1 and August 31. They logged more than 19.4 million workouts, up 2%, and around 58% had never worked out in a gym before. Since 2019 the company has waived more than $620 million in dues through the program.
The company described participation as "consistent with last year." That is the headline. In 2025 the pass drew more than 3.7 million teens and was billed as record-breaking. In 2024 it drew more than 2.8 million. After a jump of roughly 900,000 in one year, 2026 is the first summer the program did not grow.
| Summer | Teens | Workouts | Dues waived |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2.8M+ | Not stated | Not stated |
| 2025 | 3.7M+ | 19M+ | $168M+ |
| 2026 | ~3.7M | 19.4M+ | Not stated for the year ($620M+ since 2019) |
The plateau arrived while the system kept expanding. Planet Fitness opened 23 clubs in the second quarter alone, and a pass that ties each teen to their home club should grow roughly with the footprint. Participation holding still while the footprint grew suggests the program has reached most of the nearby teens who were likely to try it. That is a normal arc for a free offer, and it is the point where the question shifts from how many came to how many stayed.
Does a free teen gym pass turn into paying members?
Planet Fitness has not published a number. In its 2025 proxy statement it said the 2024 program saw an increase in the rate of Black Card conversions over the prior year, without giving the rate. The pass takes no payment details and does not roll into a paid plan, so every conversion is a fresh decision in September. Without a conversion rate (the share of free users who go on to pay), 3.7 million measures reach.
Flat reach, flat membership
The wider business makes the missing figure more interesting. At the end of June, Planet Fitness had 2,930 clubs and about 21.5 million members, a base that has stopped growing even as quarterly revenue rose 7.1%. That does not prove teen conversion is weak. Members join and leave for many reasons, and a September sign-up would not appear in a June count. It does mean the pass is not visibly lifting the total, and the company's growth story has shifted to revenue per member.
A free pass with no conversion number is an awareness campaign. It might be a very good one.
The Run RateWhat it means for your gym
You will not be handing free summers to millions of teens. You probably run something built on the same idea: a free week, a trial class, or a giveaway day like Crunch's two million free PT sessions. The Planet Fitness numbers are a useful lesson in how to judge those programs.
Measure paid members, not sign-ups. Pick a conversion window, say 30 days after a trial ends, and count how many paid. A trial that fills the floor and converts nobody costs you staff time and capacity.
Collect a way to follow up. A pass that asks for nothing makes sign-up easy and conversion hard. An email address and a booked first session are enough to run a proper follow-up.
Watch for the plateau. Free programs grow quickly while they reach people who were already curious. When sign-ups flatten, the easy audience is used up and each extra free user costs more to serve. That is the point to judge the program on conversion alone.
Plan for first-timers. The most useful figure in the release is that 58% of teens had never set foot in a gym. People who have never trained need someone to show them what to do, and access alone rarely builds the habit. HFA's mid-year data showed visits per member falling while new members kept arriving.
Planet Fitness has put more than $620 million of waived dues into this program. It may be paying back well, and the company knows whether it is. Operators copying the model should copy the measurement too.